Playtech’s bingo division Virtue Fusion has scored a major coup by signing a five-year deal with News UK to operate the publisher's Sun Bingo and Fabulous Bingo products, replacing Gamesys as the media giant’s key supplier.

The new deal will see Virtue Fusion power the web and mobile variants of each site, with the roll-out of the new offerings scheduled for August 2016 once existing players are migrated to the supplier’s bingo network from the Gamesys platform.

Launched in 2005, Sun Bingo has grown into one of the UK’s largest and most popular bingo websites. It was originally powered by operator tombola, which was dropped in favour of Gamesys in 2008.

Since then it was been powered by Gamesys’ Gibraltar-based subsidiary Entertaining Play, which also powers a number of other white label sites such as the Caesars-branded bingo and casino sites and Heard Radio bingo site.

The loss of the News UK contract marks the first major loss since Gamesys sold its B2C brands to Intertain Group earlier this year, a deal which effectively saw it become a B2B business.

“The Playtech-powered Sun Bingo will use cutting-edge technology to offer best-performing and highly innovative bingo and side games, with fantastic promotions and prizes and the industry's largest jackpots,” Playtech chief executive Mor Weizer commented.

“This is a fantastic partnership that is aligned with our ongoing strategy of working with the best operators and media brands in regulated markets,” he added. “We look forward to working closely with News UK to deliver a first-class product.”

Shares in Playtech plc (Co.Data) (LSE:PTEC) were trading up 0.44 per cent at 802.00 pence per share in London Monday morning following the announcement.